Cremation Urns for Pets: When Your Child Wants to Choose

Published: November 9, 2012

Best Friends Adoration Pet Cremation Urn

For many young children, the death of a dog or cat is their first experience in dealing with grief and loss. Every child is going to grieve differently, and everything from indifference to intense sadness is normal, but what do you do when your child wants to become involved in the final arrangements or burial of the pet? Will it harm him or her, and it is just better to take care of things quickly and quietly so the family can move on? The truth is that everyone who had a connection with that pet needs to go through the grieving process, and if the child was especially close to the animal, you can help him or her through that grief by involving them in the choices you make for the dead pet’s aftercare.

Pewter Keepsake Heart With Paws Cremation Urn

Many parents believe that allowing children to look at these urns are harmful or might frighten them, but in reality, not letting your child grieve or making him or her believe that it’s wrong to grieve for their pet is more damaging. By not letting them express their feelings, children can become anxious, withdrawn, and even have nightmares. If your child wants to be involved in the process of choosing an urn, whether it’s to preserve the pet’s ashes or to inter them, they should be allowed this because it will help them come to terms with the fact that their pet has passed on. In allowing them to help choose the urn, they will feel just as much as part of the pet’s final arrangements as they were in its life, which will help the entire grieving process. Let your child cry and talk about the pet as you all choose an urn together, and if you do choose to inter the ashes, it should be done as a family. The loss of a pet is a child’s first experience with death, and by letting him or her be involved with the pet’s final arrangements, you are helping foster positive and healthy attitudes about the cycles of life.